Images from our return to New Orleans and some stops along the way in Columbus, IN, Nashville and Birmingham. March 24 – April 1, 2018.
Click to enlarge, read captions and view slideshow.
On day one, we had to drive through a late-season snowstorm in Indiana.
We planned to stop for lunch in Columbus, Indiana, which is a must-see for modern architecture lovers.
Eliel Saarinen’s First Christian Church framed by Henry Moore’s “Large Arch.”
Even a humble phone company switching station gets the modern treatment in Columbus.
We spent two nights exploring Nashville, Tennessee. It’s conveniently halfway between Chicago and New Orleans.
The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville has a great collection ranging from classic to obscure.
The Frist Center is one of those “right size” art museums where you get to see great exhibits without spending a whole day inside.
The level of intricacy in Nick Cave’s exhibit kind of blew our minds.
Downtown Nashville is the place to be if you love country music and bachelorette parties. No thank you.
L to R: Upland Pumphouse (Columbus, IN), Walden, Von Elrod’s and Gray & Dudley (all Nashville).
Breakfast, Lunch and two Dinners in Nashville. L to R: Barista Parlor, Von Elrod’s Sausage Shop, Margot Cafe, City House.
Between Nashville and New Orleans we stopped for lunch in Birmingham, Alabama. These four buildings make up an intersection that was known as the “World’s Heaviest Corner” in the late 19th Century.
This sculpture outside the 16th Street Baptist Church commemorates the lives of four girls killed by a bomb planted by white supremacists in 1963.
Welcome to New Orleans! We stayed in the back apartment (Airbnb) of this shotgun-style house in the Bywater neighborhood.
Bywater is full of colorful houses. The color combinations are endless.
These neighbors went with a pastel palette.
Marigny Opera House.
More Bywater beauties.
From Bywater, it’s just a mile walk along Crescent Park to get to the French Quarter.
The Mississippi river is enormous and fast-flowing as it flows through the city.
St. Louis Cathedral is the centerpiece of the historic French Quarter.
There’s always a long line at Cafe du Monde, but at least there’s always a sousaphone for entertainment.
Back windows of Cafe du Monde. Powdered sugar galore!
Why yes, we will stop for a bloody mary and some people watching.
We parked the car upon arrival and didn’t touch it until we left five days later. It’s easy to get to most places in the city via public transit. Street cars are mostly full of tourists, but we had great luck with the bus system.
You could spend days photographing just the balconies of the French Quarter
More balconies
Some rooftops.
OMG the colors. Everywhere.
One day it rained and made everything extra photogenic.
Puddle flags.
Bourbon Street is pretty gross, but if you’re lucky enough to snag a 2nd floor balcony table with a view it’s fantastic.
Have you biked your dog lately?
Not ready to give up this table yet.
Walking home from the French Quarter we could see the contrast in fortunes of different neighborhoods.
Louis Armstrong’s Cornet at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
A temporary exhibit of Mardi Gras Indian costumes was also on display at the Jazz Museum.
We spent an afternoon at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.
Lionfish’s fin game is on point.
Jellies.
We added on admission to the Audubon Zoo with our Aquarium purchase.
The World War II Museum is enormous. Plan on spending an entire day there.
The New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park had a special exhibit on modern fashion inspired by Queens.
There is a great sculpture garden just outside the art museum.
The Museum of the American Cocktail tells the history of booze in the US. Many famous cocktails were invented in New Orleans, including the Sazerac, Vieux Carre, Pimm’s Cup and Ramos Gin Fizz.
You can’t visit a cocktail museum and not participate.
Free Tours By Foot offers walking tours in many European and American cities. (You pay your guide what you feel the tour was worth or what you can afford). Our guide, Sandy, took us through the Treme neighborhood, it was fantastic.
Brieux Carre is a great microbrewery located just far enough from the French Quarter that it’s full of locals rather than tourists.
At night, anything goes in New Orleans. One night while walking home through Marigny we stumbled upon this brass band rocking out in the street.
On Frenchmen Street we scanned the street performers and selected the ones who looked like they would sound the best, lol. These guys were awesome.
Our Airbnb provided bikes for our enjoyment. We didn’t use them until our final morning in town, but it was another great way to explore the neighborhood.
Getting our drink on. L to R: East Bay Bruto @ Bacchanal, Pimm’s Cup @ Napoleon House, Ramos Gin Fizz @ Bar Tonique, BAB sour @ Bywater American Bistro.
New Orleans is commonly known as one of the best dining cities in the country. Here’s a selection of our indulgences. I’ll write more about the restaurants in a future post.
Just for fun we took the 24-mile Pontchartrain Causeway out of town.
Our parting shot of New Orleans as we looked back from the Causeway. It looks so precarious from here.
Before heading north, we stopped by Fontainebleau State Park for a quick hike in the bayou.
Until next time, Louisiana.
